


Lion Keeper

by GalekhXigisi



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Crystal Gems (Steven Universe)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 00:56:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20537513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalekhXigisi/pseuds/GalekhXigisi
Summary: Please leave feedback!Please join my Discord server!https://discord.gg/eGkwayyCome and talk to me, too!!Tumblr: GalehkXigisi or TranshemanInstagram: TodorokishootmeDiscord: Shooketh Whomst#2679Twitter (SFW): DavenderLav





	Lion Keeper

The diamond smiles, pressing a gentle finger to her disciples’ nose. She had called him _ Virgil, _ spelling it out with markings she had taught him made by beings he hadn’t ever met before. He didn’t care that he hadn’t met them before. He hadn’t met a lot of beings and they were still kind to him, still held him up high. He wasn’t formed right, she _ knew _ he wasn’t. He didn’t look like the Moonstones around him. The others were short, made to healers, something that no other gem was. They stood as guards, stood tall and proud every time. 

_ Virgil _ wasn’t that pretty little blue that the others were. He wasn’t a _ girl. _ He wasn’t short or stubby. He was tall, lithe, and muscular, built for strength and speed, even if he didn’t know it then. He was a mix of colors, swirling in the night, swirling beneath her praise with tinted cheeks and a wide smile. She stands now, before him, smiling with that smile he knew so well and seemingly picked up on, too. 

“How about we play a game, my little star,” she asks, smiling so wide that he thinks it looks fake, but he won’t say that. 

He perks up, ignoring the nerves that buzz beneath his skin. He doesn’t even _ have _ skin? Not real skin, at least. He nods nonetheless, smiling as he fights with the ache in his gem. The last time he agreed to a game, he didn’t see her for another two centuries and cried every single day, unsure of how she had done it, much less _ why _she had left him there. He had never brought it up, never told her the ways he had listened and done exactly what she said, tending to the garden. 

“I do like your games,” he supplies. He _ doesn’t, _ but he knows she likes them. She always smiles so wide, so pretty and happy when she sees he’s done exactly what she said for him to do. 

The diamond nods, quick and sharp with a wide smile. She’s not like Black Diamond, who’s regal and kind without knowing. She’s not like Citrine Diamond, who selves as a parental figure to everyone. She’s not like Green Diamond, who always offers comfort without even knowing. She’s like the other gems that used to poof him hourly when he first formed, far before his gem was washed white by time and abuse. She had pulled him from that. She wouldn’t do anything ill towards him, not after she _ saved him, _ right?...

She presses a flower forward. Or, at least, he _ thinks _ it’s a flower. It’s not like the flowers in his garden, in _ Pinks’ _ garden. The petals are solid black, solid as can be, harder than the diamond herself. She plants it in her palm, the green and waxed red thorns poking at his hands. He bleeds light, but doesn’t tell her, doesn’t let her see a singular hint at his discomfort. This is what she wanted, correct? She wouldn’t hurt him, _ would she? _

“I want you to hold this flower and stand tall, soldier,” she supplies with a wide smile. 

He smiles in reply, one hand held in the sky, flower in his hand and body leaned forward, following the pose he had seen from Black Diamonds’ Pearl, a twin fusion with the utmost respect for anything and everything. He follows the pose with a triumphant look. “Like this,” he asks, eyes flickering over to her. 

“Perfect, Virgil! I want you to stand here! Greet everyone that comes here with a smile, but don’t move, okay?” 

He’s confused. That’s what she wants him to do? 

“I don’t understand, my Diamond,” he whimpers, confused. 

She shakes her head, smiling softly. “Virgil, I… _ Please, _ don’t call me that… For you, you can call me… _ Rose Quartz.” _

He’s even more confused, watching in amazement as here gem folds in, light shifting as her form changes. He stares, eyes wide with sparkles in them. She’s different, her form is paler, her hair is much thicker, and so on that she’s unrecognizable. She smiles at her handiwork and he does his best to replicate it. She looks so proud of herself. 

“Like it?” 

“I do,” he supplies with a smile, unsure of if he really means it. He doesn’t know if it was bad to lie, unsure of why he had even done it in the first place. He doesn’t want her upset. He doesn’t want to be poofed again. She had the power to shatter him with a flick of his thumb, the _ authority. _

“Now… I want you to stand here until I return. Make sure to greet them with a smile. I want them to be as happy here as I am. It’s a game! You’re hosting while I’m away!” 

That’s not a game? It’s _ not _ a game. It’s a job, which is what he was pulled away from. It was something he wants to slip away from. It’s not something he wants to _ do! _

“Okay, Miss Rose Quartz.”

She doesn’t seem to know what to say, but she nods and agrees, smiling uncertainly at him, turning her back to him. 

He wished he knew what he was getting himself into then. 

-

Pyrite used to visit so often. They enjoyed mocking the gem, but Virgil didn’t mind. He didn’t mind until they started insulting Virgils’ loyalty, started taunting and getting angry when he defended himself. _ You’re mean, that’s not what she would have wanted, was it, _ he had said once. The two had fought. Virgil had been so bitter then, but he missed the company. Tourmaline also stopped coming around, commenting something about Ruby the last time they had seen each other, though it had slipped his mind now. 

Virgil was confused. She was supposed to be back now. She was supposed to be back and playing a different game. It had been _ hundreds _ of turns now, hundreds of flips his little garden had done. He was just so _ confused. _ Did she not miss him? Was she tired of his game? Was he supposed to follow her at some point? 

Beneath his eyes gets darker as the little garden rotates beneath the stars’ lovely light and his gem slowly loses the happy little shine it once had. His colors dulled, fading as his gem turns, purple and white slowly hidden from the world. 

-

The news from Black Diamond shines across the entire universe. It doesn’t make sense. 

_ Rose Quartz has shattered Pink Diamond. _

It showed pictures, but those pictures simply didn’t make sense. It was the same person. Pink _ was _ that Rose Quartz? That didn’t make _ sense. _

-

The entire gem was turned black when Virgil finally left his little spot, falling from his place, body collapsing as he cried. It was awkward, moving to put the flower encased in his gem, tucked away tightly. He wants to leave. The bags beneath his eyes were pitch black now, no longer letting the colors once there for his eyes _ be. _ Instead, they were pitch black, far too blurred and upset with the world, blocking out the beauty and love that once sat there. 

He tried to shatter the flower. He really did try his best to annihilate the remaining piece of an aching gem. She had _ abandoned _ him! He should absolutely _ shatter _ it just like the diamond had done with the happiness stored in the ache of insides of a young, impressionable, _ gullible _ gem. But when he tried, his finger shot snagged, thorns prying darkness from his fingertips, light replaced after years of weathered abuse. The garden was lifeless, guarded by a lifeless gem. It was… _ sad. _

He breaks down in the lifeless garden, the splotch around him getting all of its life sucked out of it. He screams into his palms. 

Maybe just a few more years and she'd be back? 

He stands back in position, albeit smile fallen and tears watering a lifeless garden. Maybe they'll grow back by the time she returned for the lost little gem. He closes his eyes and silently begs for an eternity that she'll be back, that she'll at least send _ someone, _ that the garden will be repaired by then. 

-

Moonstone doesn’t want to stay anymore. The game wasn’t fun anymore. It had been two million, eight hundred _ thousand _ flips since he had last seen his diamond. He’s sure she’s forgotten, sure she doesn’t care anymore. He wants to go where she’s gone, go where she’s been. Maybe then he could see what she loved, see what made her leave for eternity, see what she had left him for. His feet are melded with the ground, dead plants wrapped all up his body. It’s hard and it takes a few minutes, but he gets there. The tears never brought the garden back. 

His first few steps are messy, not yet used to the motion after years of the same exact pose for so long. He doesn’t fall, but he stumbles, lanky limbs disagreeing with the action as he moves to the flat rock that he knows will get him away, will snatch him away from the mess that was _ here, _ the dead decay nothing more than dead plants and abandoned hope. His gem feels cold as he moves, pushing away feelings. 

He steps on it and simply thinks that he wants to be where _ she _ is. He doesn’t give specifics because he doesn’t _ know them. _ If he did, he thinks he would have. The feeling is something he hadn’t felt in so long that it made his body _ roll, _ sickened by the little move. He lands on his knees and hands, heaving through breathing. That didn’t make sense? Gems don’t _ need air, _ do they? He doesn’t think he does, but that doesn’t stop him from forcing in air, tears splashing on the ground as he forces himself up. 

The first thing he hears is soft whimpers, whimpers so pained that he feels himself feel something to akin to the sickness he had been feeling for so long now. He moves towards it, keeping his footsteps silent as he goes. He doesn’t know if the noise is coming from someone that would hurt him or really _ what _ they would do. Would they tell him to stay where he was, _ too?... _

However, what he finds is sticky and red. It’s warm and makes him feel icky as he follows the trail, hearing the soft whimpers of an animal. He continues to follow, deciding that he doesn’t _ like _ the noise _ or _ the sticky red that coats his fingertips. He moves with bated breath, unsure of what the noise and red means, but he knows it isn’t _ good. _ The sticky red doesn’t wipe off easy and stains the white light with a red-orange color. 

What lays before Virgil makes his entire body roll. Red stains the ground, the sand turned to something shapeable as it fused with the red, moldable. There were two things in the middle of it all. Bugs float around it, things he knows from what Rose had told him, what she had shown him drawings of. They’re_ lions, _ one down and asleep, a mane of fur matted down with red. He wants to cry at seeing it, at seeing the helpless little lion beside it, red dripping out of their side as they desperately mewl at the bigger lion. 

Virgil stares, unsure of what to do. He frowns, moving forward slowly. He doesn’t say it’s okay, he doesn’t tell the little lion that it was going to be okay or not to worry. Instead, he kneels beside the baby, whispering a quiet, “I’m sorry, little one,” he whispers as he looks at the two, unsure of what to do. 

The little lion moves closer, laying against the gem with a whimper. He curls around them, the shield that he can’t remember ever having protruding from his chest, protecting them against the pattering water that slowly falls, washing away the red. His tears fall as his eyes close, following the little lion in their footsteps, letting his eyes slip close. His final thought borderlines something around _ when did my gem flip from my back to my chest? _

-

Virgil opens his eyes when a rough tongue presses across his cheek, licking up the gems’ cheek, papillae rough against the others’ skin. He leans up, yawning softly as he stretches. The little lion hops around him, mewling happily as she rolls around him, happily batting at his hair. He smiles widely, examining her with a newfound spark in his chest. He likes this spark. 

The gem smiles at the lion with white fur. There are purple tufts around her, the red dripping away with the pitter-patter of water that plops against them. The gem doesn’t understand the water, but the little lion doesn’t seem affected, so he takes his chances. At worst, he’ll be shattered. At best, it will do nothing or fix his relationship with his diamond. 

Instead, the water falls on him, doing nothing but exist. He accepts it, surprised by the droplets but letting them fall nonetheless. 

The lion huffs happily and bats at the ribbons on his uniform. Or… it’s not a uniform anymore. When had his form changed? When had his colors turned from that bright, happy purple and white to a dreary black? When had his gem flipped so it looked like he was impaled with a black rod instead of that odd cylinder on his back that didn’t come out right? Was it around when blue turned purple in the metaphorical earths’ womb? 

Where tears fall, plants grow in their place, not that Virgil notices after the little lion presses against his hand with her snout.

-

The little lion grows more and more as the colony turns. Or, well, _ planet _ turns. Virgil still isn’t used to how he’s seen a few _ humans _ talk. He doesn’t understand them. He can’t read what they write, either, but the “books” that had been dropped had pretty pictures that he really did like. He would look at them and talk out a story with Lion, happy to have her eternal presence. She was an eternal comfort in his pit of uncertainty, not that he’d admit it, nj]ot that he had anyone to admit it to. 

Or, at least, he didn’t until one day he did. He didn’t hear it, didn’t understand it, didn’t know what was happening. One moment, he was spewing to Lion about the latest plant he had found and the next he was pinned to the ground with a sword to his throat, an angry Ruby yelling words at him that he can’t hear over the ringing in his ears that sounds like he imagined getting poofed would. 

He stares, unsure of what to do because there are three others with the Ruby and he hears something along the lines of _ Is she an Obsidian? Patton, if she is an Obsidian, we’re in severe danger! _

Virgil whimpers, pushing the Ruby away as the shield suddenly pops in front of him, concealing him. He’d been here for hundreds of rotations and the only ones that had ever bothered him were the occasional humans that he had to get away from Lion. And yet, now, he has four different beings standing around him with fire in their eyes. He can already feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he curls up. Had they finally tracked him down? Were they going to send him back? Was Pink going to shatter him like they had done the rest of the moonstones? 

The shield folds away as he grits his teeth, whimpering. He holds his hands above himself, giving up within an instant. “Don’t take me back,” he begs, eyes squeezed shut. “I-I-I’m a Moonstone, the first one, I-I’m part of Pink Diamonds’ first set. Please, shatter me instead, _ don’t take me back?” _ He presses the palm of his hands against his eyes, body refusing to agree with the emotions. He wasn’t _ sad. _ He was _ terrified. _

“A Moonstone,” a tall one asks, notably a Tanzanite that stands tall and proud, just like the Ruby that’s currently got a sword pointed at him. The Tanzanite looks like they had been strut by the Diamonds themselves. “But they were all _ shattered. _ How can _ you-” _

An Aquamarine suddenly steps in, calmly muttering, “Hey, hey, Logan, it’s okay.” They smile widely. It’s oddly comforting, even for Virgil, who doesn’t understand. 

“P-Pink called me Virgil,” he mumbles. He’s an off-color, a _ severely _ off-color that formed a million different ways wrong but still ended up being held in her garden that never regrew. He wipes his face quickly. 

The Ruby looks ready to shank the gem sitting on the ground, Lion suddenly moving to stand in front of the gem, growling angrily as she coils around him. 

“No, no, Lion, it’s okay,” he mumbles softly. He knows it’s not okay. It never was when another gem came into the mix, but that was also coming from the gem that never saw their own quadrant when they formed and only knew about the Diamond and the two gems that occasionally visited and told him whatever they wanted. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave feedback!
> 
> Please join my Discord server!  
https://discord.gg/eGkwayy
> 
> Come and talk to me, too!!
> 
> Tumblr: GalehkXigisi or Transheman
> 
> Instagram: Todorokishootme
> 
> Discord: Shooketh Whomst#2679
> 
> Twitter (SFW): DavenderLav


End file.
